Parade appearance puts Cobb band step ahead

Washington —- When the South Cobb High School Blue Eagles Marching Band steps off today for the Presidential Inaugural Parade, it will be the culmination of a long journey.

“I kind of felt that we were going to go because we put so much effort into getting here,” first-year band member Marcus Talley, 15, said.

Only a few years ago, outsiders looked questionably upon the Austell high school band —- just last year, it hadn’t marched any farther than the school’s parking lot.

“I would ride by and think, why is it so little?” Marcus said, recalling watching the band practice before he joined this year. “They had like 15 or 20 people.”

But the band has grown and thrived under the leadership of director Zachary Cogdill, who arrived four years ago.

In today’s inaugural parade, 95 students will march. Also making the trip to Washington were 11 alternates.

Monday morning, amid wind-whipped flurries in Woodbridge, Va., outside Washington, Cogdill put the 106 students through their paces.

“You guys are on your own,” he told the band before it began marching around the school parking lot. “You need to be able to do this without any direction from us [adults].”

Cogdill said he had faith in his students.

“I have no doubt that they’re going to do a great job on that parade route,” he said.

One of his hardest tasks has been getting the band members to believe in themselves. Cogdill said the election gave his students —- many of whom are minorities, or receive free or reduced lunch assistance —- a new understanding of what was possible.

“They’re seeing this country in a whole new light because we elected an African-American president,” he said.

“It made me feel like I can do anything,” 15-year-old Joshua Roberts said.

And by allowing them to participate in the effort of applying to be in the parade, Cogdill has given each one a sense of accomplishment.

“If you believe, then you can achieve,” senior percussionist Jamie Hudson, 17, said.

South Cobb Principal Grant Rivera said the band couldn’t have made the trip without the more than $88,000 donated by the community. Rivera hopes the investment in the school and the students pays off in building their characters.

“I want them not only to appreciate what has happened, but to find an opportunity in their lives to return that spirit of giving back,” he said.

Cogdill said he wanted his students to take pride in the steps they took to get to the parade, and know they can always succeed.

“Anything is possible,” he said. “Where these students encounter a mental or physical wall, I hope they have the courage to overcome it because they saw us overcome here.”

 New York Times 
TODAY'S EVENTS IN WASHINGTON 
1. Swearing-in and speech 
Approximately 1,600 guests and dignitaries will gather on the inaugural platform along the West Front of the Capitol. Joe Biden is to be sworn in as vice president at 11:46 a.m., followed by Barack Obama as president. 
2. Departure of President George W. Bush 
The new president and vice president escort their predecessors 
out of the Capitol. 
3. Luncheon 
The president will be escorted to Statuary Hall in the Capitol 
for the inaugural luncheon. 
4. Parade 
The newly sworn-in president and vice president lead the procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. 
Sources: City of Washington, D.C., Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies; Armed Forces Inaugural Committee